A/N: Sorry it took a bit longer than I expected to update this. I had three exams this week plus I have three more next week so I might not be able to update next week, but I will try my best to create time to update. I'm really sad that Naruto ended up with Hinata(NaruHina), idk it all feels like a huge slap to the face after all that NaruSaku development plus I feel like Kishi-sensei just did it to please the more popular NaruHina fandom, and it makes me feel like crying. But oh well, I will ship NaruSaku till I die, plus Naruto remains my favorite series of all time. Another reason I'm sad is because Chelsea from Akame Ga Kill died, and right as she was growing on me. I wanted her and Tatsumi to become an item (but Esdeath still remains my fav female on the show). Anyway, before I bore you with my long rants here's chapter 6 guys. Read and enjoy!( I edited Chapter 5 a little, so best read it first before proceeding with this)
Departure
Yugao Uzuki was young woman with straight, purple hair reaching down to her waist, and brown eyes, and a shade of red lipstick. Easily one of the most attractive females in Konoha, it was indeed odd how she hadn't managed to get married yet or even into a relationship after the death of her beloved Hayate. The death caught her by surprise, and she even left the ANBU, but later she decided against it because she realized that Hayate wouldn't want to see her in that sad state. Picking herself up anew, she decided to put her all into her ANBU duties, while rejecting any advances from her team members, who surprisingly enough were all male.
The recent events in the village did indeed shake her, seeing hers and Hayate's home getting destroyed within the blink of an eye. She was however one of the many villagers who was grateful to Uzumaki Naruto for bringing an end to the chaos in the village at the time. Therefore, when she was given the orders by Shizune to search for Naruto within the outskirts of the village and within the boundaries of The Land of Fire, she wondered why. Shizune told her that she didn't want to cause panic in the village by informing everyone that the village's jinchuuriki/hero was missing, so she told her to keep the mission between only her and her team. Yugao agreed and immediately went to the ANBU headquarters to gather her equipment plus get her team ready. Within an hour, she was ready and her team departed for the search.
"Nothing to report here, Captain," said Niai, a short, red-haired male, while landing next to his captain who was standing over a grassy area with a bird's eye view of the whole land of fire. Niai admired his captain to the point where he developed feelings for her, so he strived to give his all in his work too just like she did. "Good work, Nia," he beamed at these words, but his smile suddenly vanished after he noticed the stern look on his captain's face. She clearly was not happy by the news. "You made sure to search every area in the east, right?" Yugao asked him. He nodded, and then she made an unpleasant sound with her mouth. Yugao had split her three man team, assigning each of them to search within a cardinal direction from Konoha till the land of fire's boundaries, while she searched towards the north. Going beyond the boundaries would be considered trespassing of course, but with the rate at which things was going she was tempted to cross over and search into neighboring lands too. She had never once failed in tracking missing people and today was definitely going to be her first failure.
The arrival of the remaining two members of her team reignited the hope she had left, but after looking at the sullen looks on their face, she was dismayed again. "Captain,I…." started Youga, but she raised her hand in a motion to tell him not to speak further. Youga was a green-haired man in his late 20s, who had a knack for always pestering his captain during their team missions, but seeing the sullen look on her face even killed all the hopes he had of pestering her today as well. The last of the group, Shii, also kept quiet after looking at his captain's hand. After a moment of uncomfortable silence among the quartet, Yugao suddenly broke the silence by slapping herself on both her cheeks.
Surprised (Nia almost rushed to his captain immediately), the rest of the team looked at Yugao and she spoke up in a louder voice than normal, "We've searched the area in every nook and cranny, and there's honestly no sign of Uzumaki Naruto anywhere. Since we still have some time before the sun sets, let's do one more clean sweep of the entire premises, then if there is nothing, we will all rendezvous at the village gates. Make sure you get any clues, no matter how minuscule they may be. Team dismissed!" The three guys suddenly broke into wide smiles, and with a loud shout of "Yes,captain!", they all dispersed, now more determined than ever to do their mission and see it through to the end.
Konoha,Hokage's office
Tsunade had laid out scrolls and parchments all over the desk, plus underneath them was a map of the all the lands. She took one scroll and studied it intently, before returning it to the table and looking at the map intently. The door opened and Shizune entered the room, looking a bit exhausted. "Tsunade-sama, I finished the task, Yugao Uzuki…." But she was suddenly cut short after noticing the huge number of scrolls and on the table. Knowing Tsunade to be one who didn't like tons of paperwork all at once, this was definitely a first for her. "What are you doing, Tsunade-sama?"She asked her. Tsunade didn't reply. A bit irritated since she had been ignored twice, Shizune walked to the front of Tsunade's desk, her steps increasing in strength with each turn, she placed her hands firmly on Tsunade's table causing the table to shake a bit. "WHO IS IT AT THIS DAMN TIME I'M TRYING TO FOCUS…" an irritated Tsunade started, but she stopped after noticing it was Shizune who was there. "Oh, it's you Shizune. You're back already?" Finally happy that Tsunade was paying attention to her, Shizune replied, "Yes, Tsunade-sama. I assigned Yugao Uzuki and gave her the mission to search for Uzumaki Naruto. Hopefully, she'll be back with some good news at the end of the day. More to the current topic, what are YOU doing?" Tsunade looked at her table before looking up at Shizune again, "Oh, this? I'm looking at the reports from Team Kakashi and Team Gai after the incident with the Kazekage, plus Team Kakashi's report from the time with Orochimaru at the Heaven and Earth Bridge." Shizune looked puzzled by this but before she could ask anything, Tsunade continued, "Gaara was captured by the Akatsuki and placed in their hideout which Team Kakashi managed to infiltrate and rescue the Kazekage. From Orochimaru's hideout, Yamato was able to recover a scroll from one of the rooms and it happened to have information regarding the Akatsuki, including their hideouts and all their recent activity. I'm basically trying to locate all the Akatsuki hideouts and determine where they may be currently because I'm certain that's where Naruto may be. You understand me, Shizune?" Shizune dropped the puzzled expression on her face and nodded, finally understanding what Tsunade was trying to tell her. Then, she realized all of a sudden what Tsunade was implying subconsciously, before asking, "Wait, so you don't think Yugao and her team will find Naruto-kun?" Tsunade looked at Shizune a bit and suddenly her face became somber, before answering in a hesitant tone," I….I'm not sure what to think Shizune. Of course I want to believe that they will find him. But I'm starting to lose hope slowly. I'm just preparing for a worst case scenario so that I won't be caught off-guard again. Like the time with Jiraiya." A tear appeared in Tsunade's eye at the mention of her old teammate's name, but she quickly rubbed it away, although Shizune noticed it but chose not to speak of it. "Anyway, good timing. Now that you're here you can help me do this work. I've not made much progress really and I think you're better than me in such stuff," Tsunade admitted embarrassingly. Shizune smiled a little before moving closer to where Tsunade was and the two soon resumed work.
After an hour's work of looking at the map and cancelling out areas which seemed to no longer function as hideouts, Tsunade heaved a huge sigh of relief before placing herself on the desk. "Seems like we have only two areas which seem to be their current hideouts," Shizune started, "This area," she pointed at an area between Sunagakure and Takigakure, "and this area," she pointed to an area between Amegakure and Otokagure. Tsunade nodded her head before telling Shizune that they should wait till the following day before finalizing the decision to investigate the said areas, but then a knock was heard on the door. The two kunoichi in the room looked at each other, dread looming on their faces, before Tsunade finally spoke up, "Enter!" The door suddenly opened, to reveal…..
Haruno Sakura
Sakura lay in her bed in her room, occasionally looking outside to see if there was anything new. Tsunade had told her to take the day off before they obtained any more news regarding Naruto, and she did just that, but soon came to regret her decision since she worried more of what had become of her blonde teammate. All of a sudden she found herself missing the company of her closest friend. Sure there was still Sai and Kakashi-sensei, but none of them could give them the feeling she got from being near Naruto. Around Naruto she felt…safe. Secure. Comfortable. Sure she was always bothered when he always asked to go out on dates with her, but she got over it as quickly as possible and in no way did it change her opinion of the blonde. In him she found a best friend, a companion and…something more. Sakura couldn't quite place her finger on it but she still couldn't find a reason why she hugged Naruto after his fight with Pain. She just assumed it to be the thought of losing her teammate to the Akatsuki leader, who had killed his master, was too scary to bear. She couldn't go through something as painful as what had happened with Sasuke again. And now it looked like it was happening again. Naruto was missing and she was seriously worried about what Tsunade had said earlier. If indeed the Akatsuki had kidnapped Naruto then she had to go save him. She resolved that she would save him and thought of all the times that he had come to her rescue in the past. He was always there for her and now he wasn't even in the village. It brought tears to her eyes but she immediately wiped them clean before getting off bed. "I can't waste time dawdling around here when he could be in trouble. I need to go meet up the rest of my team and tell them about the whole situation." She immediately put on her ninja wear and left the house, resolve blazing in her heart.
First off, she went to look for Kakashi-sensei. He wasn't really that difficult to miss since she knew that he had three favorite places to be in whilst not on duty. One, his house. Since it was the nearest place to look in she made a quick dash to Kakashi-sensei's house. She knocked on the door but there was no reply. It wasn't really in Kakashi's habit to sleep in during the day so Sakura dismissed the idea of him being asleep. She made a dash for the next area. Two, the bench under the tree near the park where he usually sits reading his perverted books. Sakura shrugged at the thought of finding him on the bench reading Icha-Icha tactics, but her thoughts were cut off since he wasn't in the vicinity of the park. She then made a quick run for the third area where she thought Kakashi would be in. Third, the memorial stone in the training field where Kakashi spent most of his time standing over the grave of his former teammates, Obito and Rin. Surely enough, Sakura found him standing there with his hands in his pockets in a serious manner. "The third time's a charm I guess," she told herself in her mind. She called out to her teacher as she approached the stone, and Kakashi looked up at her. Clearly surprised, since he didn't expect one of his students to come see him at that place, he smiled at her, "Yo, Sakura. What's up?" Sakura came at an abrupt halt in front of him, and Kakashi noticed that she wasn't smiling. He asked her what was wrong, and Sakura proceeded to explain everything that had transpired from the moment she found Naruto was not in his apartment and the decision with Tsunade.
Once she finished, Kakashi was surprised, though it wasn't easy to tell since his mask covered most of his face, and over the years his team had learned to learn his expressions from his eye movements. He began thinking over the matter, and then he told Sakura to go inform the rest of the teammates she was assigned to. "What about you Sensei? What are you going to do?" she asked him. "I'm going to go to the hokage's office. I need to confirm something with Tsunade first." Sakura agreed, before dashing off to look for Kiba, Neji, Shikamaru and Sai. Kiba was with Hinata and Shino so she had to call him aside to inform him about the news. Kiba almost yelled in surprise when he heard about it and Sakura had to stomp on his foot to avoid him alerting his teammates who were just nearby. After Sakura threatened to beat him up if he told Hinata and Shino about it, she left after she got a favourable reply from Kiba, who was rubbing his sore foot.
She easily found Shikamaru, who was resting on top of the rooftop of his family's house. Thank God she had run into Ino the previous day and told her what happened, she thought, since Shikamaru understood what she had come to tell him. Apparently, Ino had told Shikamaru and Chouji about what Sakura told her, Shikamaru explained to Sakura. Sakura smiled a little since her workload had been reduced, so she just proceeded to tell Shikamaru that he was in her team with her as the leader. Shikamaru made an inward leap for joy, since he did not feel like being the leader of another rescue squad, especially after the last one that failed with Sasuke.
Neji was in the Hyuuga household training in the fields alone when Sakura found him. She explained the situation to Neji as quickly as possible without missing any important details, and Neji was shocked. He asked Sakura to confirm if what she had said was true, and seeing no other reaction from Sakura, he immediately wanted to go and tell Hinata the news. However, Sakura stopped him and told him to keep it a secret from Hinata, since only members of the rescue squad were supposed to know about the mission, and inwardly,Sakura found out recently that Hinata was in love with Naruto, so she knew that Hinata would be devastated if she found out about Naruto. Neji understood and decided to prepare himself in case they were to be called any moment. "Poor Hinata-sama," Neji thought to himself as he witnessed Sakura leaving the compound. "She would be so devastated by the news if she heard about it."
Sai was outside his house drawing his compound on portraits he had bought for himself, and was just about to complete the last one when he saw Sakura standing outside his compound, looking really tired and exhausted. Puzzled, he placed his paint brush on the ground before standing up and going to meet Sakura. "Sakura-san,what a pleasure to have you here. To what do I owe this visit?" He asked Sakura. Sakura, between heavy breaths, proceeded to explain the whole situation to Sai. Sai was as shocked as the other members of the team, Sakura noted, but luckily he didn't panic like Kiba and Neji did, and instead he reassured Sakura that Naruto was "an idiot who wouldn't die even if he was killed, "so he would be fine wherever he was. Sakura smiled a little and thanked Sai before telling him to get ready to be called upon any time. After witnessing Sai nod to her, she left his home and set for home, actually happy that she had managed to do something small for Naruto, even if she hoped that it wouldn't come to the point of going to rescue him. Satisfied, she entered the house and set off for her room to prepare herself too.
Tsunade's office
Yugao stood at the entrance to the Hokage's office, with her entire team behind her. Shizune at once noticed that none of them carried anything in their hands, or on their backs, meaning that they couldn't even find Naruto or a trace of him. Tsunade seemed to have noticed the same thing, and Yugao couldn't even bear to look at Tsunade face to face. Nonetheless, Tsunade asked her for a report, and Yugao started, "Yes, Hokage-sama. We searched all the areas within the land of fire's borders, and we weren't able to find even a single trace of Uzumaki Naruto. Therefore, we believe that he must be in an area outside this nation's borders and possibly, he was kidnapped." After Yugao finished her report, Tsunade lowered looked down on her desk before a voice cut her off, "So it's exactly as you feared, Hokage-sama." Startled, she looked up and saw Kakashi standing outside her office next to Yugao( in front of Yugao's teammates as well). Kakashi excused himself before entering the office. "Sakura told me about the situation. I think we may have to go and rescue Naruto from the Akatsuki. Unbelievable as it may seem, I think that's the only possible answer left as to his whereabouts," Kakashi concluded. Tsunade looked up at him then said," I'm glad you're here, Kakashi. Good call. But the situation isn't as simple as it seems. Even if the Akatsuki have indeed captured Naruto, we have only two possible leads of their hideouts. Therefore, I'm going to have to form two teams to check out the two hideouts. Team one, which is the team where Sakura and you are in, will go and check out the hideout in the area between Sunagakure and Takigakure, and," she then placed a piece of paper on the table, which Kakashi proceeded to pick up and read from the following names:
Might Guy. Rank-Jounin
Aburame Shino. Rank-Chuunin
Hyuuga Hinata. Rank-Chuunin
Yamanaka Ino. Rank-Chuunin
Tsunade waited for Kakashi to skim through the paper a little before continuing, "Team two will check out the second hideout, the one between Amegakure and Otokagure. Hatake Kakashi, go and inform the members of both teams to mobilize immediately, since they will be departing at the dawn of break tomorrow. Dismissed!" Kakashi nodded at once then proceeded to leave the Hoakge's office, leaving her, Shizune and the ANBU there. Once Kakashi had left, Tsunade turned to Yugao. "Good work, Yugao Uzuki! You can leave with your team now. You did great," Tsunade remarked, before Yugao looked up and saw Tsunade smiling, which caused her to smile too before saying, "Hai, Tsunade-sama!" then leaving the office together with her men. Tsunade then looked at Shizune, who smiled at her and told her that the two teams would definitely rescue Naruto. Tsunade then thanked her for her support and good work that day, before proceeding to leave the office with her.
The next morning
Screams were heard at the front gates of Konoha at the break of dawn, and indeed there were too many surprises in one moment for most of the people who were meeting up there.
End
A/N: Well, there's Chapter 6 guys. I feel like I've really gone all out with this one, so I hope you guys will enjoy it. Also, can any of you guess why there are screams at the front gates of the village that early in the morning? XD .The truth can be quite shocking sometimes, and I will show you guys why in the next chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favorites.